Looking Ahead

When I went to Ellen Stewart’s memorial last winter—she died at the age of ninety-one—I met several people who had not only worked with her on the stage but helped her create La Mama, the downtown theatre that she founded in 1961, with spit and a dream. One elderly gentleman told me about how the wild-haired impresario had cooked dinner for friends at her home and then had them carry their chairs to the then new space on East Fourth Street. The list of writers, directors, and performers Stewart produced is staggering: Sam Shepard, Richard Foreman, Diane Lane, Andrei Serban, Tom Eyen, Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis, Ping Chong, Meredith Monk. Incredibly, La Mama turns fifty this year; many of the artists Stewart fostered, inspired, and challenged will perform on Oct. 16 at the free World Block Party. The ceremony will end with videos of bell-ringing around the world. The homage will be elegiac, but not nostalgic: Stewart never looked back. That would distract from her primary impulse—to move forward. ♦

Hilton Als, The New Yorker’s theatre critic, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He is the author of “White Girls” and an associate professor of writing at Columbia University.